How Much Dry Food Daily?

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Shades

Shades

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Hi,

As you know I've got two boys. Their diet is the usual including dry food. The dry food comes in many shapes and these boys are just like kids - they eat the nice looking ones first and leave the pellets till last.

Last night I gave them 40g each and they still haven't finished it 18 hours later. I'm thinking that's quite slow especially as the packet suggests they should be eating more every day. How much dry food would you expect two-month-old boars to eat daily?

28iubug.jpg
 
I'd read this info and found it unclear.

The intro says:
"The recommended ratio of food groups:
- ca. 80% hay
- 10-15% veg and fresh herbs (ca. 1 cupful / 50g / nearly 2oz)
- 5-10% pellets (amount depending on the age)
- plenty of fresh water daily"

Then later it says:
"Fast growing young guinea pigs up to 4-6 months old:
40g (just over 1 oz) to unlimited pellets in order to account for the slightly raised need of more calcium, protein and vitamin C."

Whilst I recognise the author is well-respected here, the advice here appears to be conflicting. the intro suggests limiting the pellets but later an unlimited amount is OK.

What I am hoping for is real life info from forum members who also have two-month old boars. Is 40g daily too little? how much do their gps eat every day?
 
I'll weigh what my 3 little girls have later (they are 8weeks). It's not much at all - less than a handfull between all 3 of them and I still throw away a few of the left over pellets each night, to give them fresh ones.

They do eat approximately 50g of veg each and a very surprisingly large amount of hay. TBH as long as they are getting vit c rich veg and gaining well I'm not worried.

Oh and I don't find the guide confusing. It's the same with rabbits. Basically those are the proportions you want them to be eating. Young pigs will eat more pellets to support growth, aswell as more hay. Generally with a younger pigs they won't gorge on pellets and ignore hay, so generally balance themselves out, and even if they do a bit the extra goes into growing not getting fat. However adults can fall into bad habits of just gorging on pellets, which is bad for teeth and weight, so you have to watch amounts more to keep it in the correct proportions.
 
Oh and packets often recommend far too much gram wise for piggies (theres the same problem with rabbit foods too).
 
I've got 10 guinea's in total, ages from 3 years to 4 months old, the older guinea's don't eat a lot of pellets where as the younger do.

I just give the young one unlimited pellets to be honest.
 
How much does the young one eat and how much do you throw away every day?
 
I throw zero away, unless there is poop in there, I don't weigh the food, there are two in the cage so I can't really give you an estimation to be honest, sorry :(

What about if you just put a bit in a time in and when they've eaten it just top it up?
 
I put 40g in last night and it's still not finished. They've eaten all the good bits! they're more interested in their hay and fruit & veg. It's good to hear others' experiences.
 
Oh! The food I give is the one below, it's one type of food so they can't be selective. I have no idea if they sell it where you live :/

Supreme Science Selective Guinea Pig food.

food.webp
 
Hi! I was having the same problem a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea how many pellets I was supposed to feed my 2-4 month old boards. I usually just feed a handful in the morning and a handful in the evening. They usually leave no pellets behind. I would recommend a mix with just pellets so that your piggies aren't as picky. Hope this helps. :nod:
 
Here's a snapshot of what they eat

2renxxi.jpg


20151004_225719.webp
 
From yesterday's 80g, they only ate 30g. let's see how they do with tonight's allocation.
 
I've only just picked this thread up. Please don't worry . If your guinea pigs are eating their fresh veggies and hay - it doesn't matter if they're not eating as much as the amount recommended on the packet .

The only thing that concerns me is they are picking out the bits they prefer and leaving some types of the mix . Can you give them smaller amounts more frequently - to see if this stops them selective feeding ? I don't know how much choice you have in guinea pig pellets in China - are there any Brands which don't have a mix?
 
@kitkat1 I've painstakingly removed all the treats and offered up pellets only. If they eat them all, then I'll give them some treats. The 'eat your greens and you can have some ice cream' method, haha!
 
@PiggyOwner keeping pets, especially small pets, is really a new thing in China. The choice of gp food is really limited. I'll have another look online to see if I can buy pellets only. Otherwise I'll have to sort by hand. Or I can ask my son to do it. I'm sure he'll find it less disgusting than cleaning poo from the fleece every day. :D
 
Shades said:
@PiggyOwner keeping pets, especially small pets, is really a new thing in China. The choice of gp food is really limited. I'll have another look online to see if I can buy pellets only. Otherwise I'll have to sort by hand. Or I can ask my son to do it. I'm sure he'll find it less disgusting than cleaning poo from the fleece every day. :D
Click to expand...
I wondered if that was the case. We'll see how your plan of picking out the treats goes.
 
Well it looks like they're not eating much of these pellets, around 30g between two. Maybe they just don't like the taste. But they do have an appetite for hay and green veg. Last week they put on 30g and 40g respectively. How much weight gain should I expect every week?
 
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